Monday, August 24, 2015

How Safe Is Your Ground Beef? Well, you tell me did you cook it
properly?

This really gets interesting at the end when consumer reports actually recommends only grass fed and/or organic beef. (Never mind the negative environmental/sustainability issues that can also be associated with that) And their results on bacterial contamination are based on irrelevant comparisons between 'raw' ground beef. They did not test differences between properly handled and prepared ground beef, because the differences would be zero! It also makes me wonder, by making these kinds of recommendations are they possibly endangering some consumers by shaping perceptions in such a way that could promote 'risk homeostasis' - making consumers feel safer and likely take fewer precautions if they buy organic/grass fed premium brands? It seems to me the only responsible thing they should recommend is proper cooking and handling since that has the largest significant impact on safety regardless of how it's raised or marketed. I haven't actually unpacked the analysis or methodology on the 'raw' beef comparisons (as irrelevant as they may be) but am interested to see what kind of reactions come about from those that have!

About Me

My primary interests are in applied econometrics with applications related to the interrelationships between genomics, nutrition, health, and the environment. I have a quantitative and analytical background in the areas of applied economics and statistical genetics. I leverage my training with experience in machine learning and predictive modeling using SAS, R, and Python to solve problems. I can understand complex research and discuss the application with a scientist, sales representative, or the customer whose problem ultimately drives the analysis. I can code my own estimators, execute SQL queries, parse text files, and visualize a social network.